


Burning, Burning, At The Point Of No Returning

by Pinkist



Series: B#RN [2]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: 2jin - Freeform, 2jins relationship, Accidental Confession, Alternate Universe - College/University, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Living Together, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Roommates, accidental roommates, followed by an actual confession, house fire, i realise the title makes this look like angst but it could not be farther from angst i promise, oh no !! theres only one bed!!!!, the title is in reference to hyunjins apartment and not like, triplet line are good sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21777556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkist/pseuds/Pinkist
Summary: Hyunjin’s life is like a really bad rom-com except nothing about it is romantic and there’s only one vaguely comedic moment every few months. In essence; Hyunjin’s life is like, really bad.A series of unfortunate events and a house fire later, Hyunjin finds herself living in her sort-of-not-really friend’s house. Heejin at least looks thrilled about it.
Relationships: Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin
Series: B#RN [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569433
Comments: 25
Kudos: 302





	1. There's A Fire (In My Heart, But Also Quite Literally)

**Author's Note:**

> The Abba for this fic is "Kisses Of Fire" !
> 
> (hardly edited rip)

Hyunjin’s life is like a really bad romcom except nothing about it is romantic and there’s only one vaguely comedic moment every few months. In essence; Hyunjin’s life is like, _really_ bad.

If there’s a god above, she’s probably laughing. And she also probably hates cat-loving jocks, because really, how else could Hyunjin be in a situation like this one?

So yeah, maybe (definitely) she’s not the only one affected, and she should probably be thinking about how grateful she is to be alive or something along those lines, but all Hyunjin can really think of is how it cost her almost ninety dollars (with a discount coupon) to get someone to repair the sink four nights ago _and_ how she could have spent that same ninety dollars buying food instead, since all hints of the repair are currently in flames, along with three other floors of her apartment building. 

The firefighters who’ve been battling the flames for about half an hour and are probably ten minutes away from winning, say they got a call that said it started when a blanket was too close to a heater. They don’t say whose blanket and whose heater started this whole mess, but they don’t have to say anything. Hyunjin already knows it was Benny the idiot. He’s standing about nine feet away from her, eyes transfixed on the flaming mass above them, and Hyunjin swears he’s sort of enjoying it. _Ugh_. 

She’s far away enough from the blaze that she’s not in any danger if the building suddenly collapses, and she’s far out of the way of the firefighters, but she’s still close enough to feel the heat lick her skin so that her forehead is lined with a thin layer of sweat and her cotton tee sticks to her back.

She feels gross, and she probably looks gross too. Her black hair is only sort-of tied up and she knows her mascara left tracks down her cheeks (mostly, it melted off, but Hyunjin’s woman enough to admit she cried a little bit as she was rescued from the fire. Her fucking ninety-dollar repair… Wasted), her pyjamas are gaudy and her arms half-full of random shit she collected on her way out the door. (Fire safety procedures all say to leave materials behind and make your way to the exit as quickly and efficiently as possible, but her college debt says fuck that, things are expensive, take that shit with you.) 

She can at least thank whatever god is laughing through the smog that her laptop (her baby) is safe in her arms because that's the only positive in this situation. 

When the flames are put out and the medical people (medics? doctors?) have checked her out for not having gruesome burns or severe smoke inhalation (seriously, _where_ are the medical professionals?) she’s gonna have to make arrangements because she’s effectively homeless. Temporarily, anyway. 

Hyunjin thinks about making a call, but has to stop herself because, her phone is on 2% and likely seeing the grim reaper of iphones already while her phone charger is probably being eaten by the flames right now, so she settles for sitting cross-legged on some dingy sidewalk, surrounded by ash and cheap knick-knacks, as she messages her sisters from her laptop. 

  
  


**Hyunjin**

can i stay at one of ur apartments

**Hyejoo**

why

**Hyunjin**

Mine is currenlty burning to the ground

**Hyejoo**

“Currenlty” lol

Also that sucks ://

**Hyunjin**

???? let me stay at ur apartment

**Hyejoo**

Okay so 

I got evicted 3 weeks ago n im actually 

Staying w chaewon so theres that

**Hyunjin**

What

U couldve asked to stay w me !!! 

Im ur sister i wouldve said yes

**Hyejoo**

well ur apartment is on fire so i think

I can safely say i made the correct

decision lol

**Yerim**

YOU GOT EVICTED?????

**Hyunjin**

Yerim let me stay at ur apartment 

**Yerim**

Hyejoo u couldve asked to stay w ME

**Yerim**

Any other day i would say yes hyun but yeo

and i are staying w Jinsoul n Jungeun rn bc

Theres flooding on the lower floors

**Hyejoo**

Really feeling like i made the call when i picked

Chaewon to move in with

**Hyunjin**

.

**Yerim**

Im not gonna leave u to stay on the sidewalk hyun

Dont worry iv called up a friend !!!!!!!

**Yerim**

She says u dont have to pay for ur 1st month rent

On account of u having literally no possessions left

**Yerim**

So be super nice to her

And stay safe

AND BE CARFUL ITS A FIRE HYUN!!!

**Hyejoo**

Wtf kind of person says u get a month free

**Hyunjin**

Does she have an address i can 

uber to

**Yerim**

Ye but shes coming to pick u up

Her name is heejin btw

Shes super nice

She’ll probably recognise u straight away

**Hyejoo**

Why

Is she a creep or smth

**Yerim**

no she’s my friend and has enough brain cells

To know that my TRIPLET would look smth like me

**Hyunjin**

Well how long is she gonna take

I kind of miss breathing oxygen

**Yerim**

Arent u at the hospital?

**Hyunjin**

No?

**Hyejoo**

What the fuck lol????????

**Yerim**

Okay... sending her to your apartment and not 

The nearest hospital where i genuinely thought ud b

But seriously nobody called the ambulance??

**Hyunjin**

Haha god i wish

  
  


In the end, the ambulance comes, shy of twenty minutes late. The health people are a little disgruntled; apparently, somebody named Benny gave them the wrong address, but they come nonetheless and the doctor people look her over and tell her she’s alright and she doesn’t end up actually needing to go to the hospital, which is fine. It’s cool. She’s got nothing better to do anyway other than stare at cracks on the pavement and count the ants as they flee from the heat and pass by her in a tizzy.

Her ride, Heejin, or whatever hasn’t shown up yet, and there’s only so much longer Hyunjin can wait before she starts thinking that Yerim was just being scammed by a Nigerian prince.

She’s not the type to catastrophize or panic, even in a situation as flat out horrible as the one she’s currently in, but her lungs are starting to constrict with each breath and it’s getting harder and harder to stop her eyes from welling thanks to the building smoke. She settles for blinking quickly and hoping that the air produced by the fluttering of her lashes will clear up the pinching sensation of fumes against her eyeball. She’s sort of desperate. 

She’s about to give up when a silver Prius with a custom plate reading “H01” (what kind of douchebag...?) slides up next to her pathetic little set-up. 

There’s an awkward couple of seconds where Hyunjin finds herself staring blankly at her own reflection on the tinted windows. Yeah, she looks about as bad as she expected, though her hair looks kinda nice all unkempt. Like an action movie actress who’s hair is strategically positioned so they look like a mess that was hot and not, you know, a hot mess. 

Slowly, the front window slips down, just enough that Hyunjin can see a set of large, brown eyes and a little mole. “Are you Yerim’s sister?”

Hyunjin clears her throat, scrambling to her feet.“Uh yeah. Heejin?” It’s a dumb question, she knows, who else would rock up to her burnt down apartment building at four in the morning asking about her sister? Still, she feels the need to clarify-- to at least say something, and get the buzz of nerves out of her system the best she can. 

The eyes widen and the window lowers all the way. The girl behind the steering wheel looks pretty excited, and Hyunjin’s gonna guess it’s because she remembered her name, and not because the girl's some sort of twisted pyromaniac like Benny who enjoys the sight of the ashy remains of her once-apartment. “Yeah!”

The upbeat response is all the invitation that Hyunjin needs to sweep her belongings back in her arms and take the spot beside Heejin at the front of the car. 

Neither blink an eye as Hyunjin’s things cascade down her lap and onto the floor in a set of ungraceful thumps.

“That’s everything?”

_Well seeing as the fire sort of burnt her entire fucking room…_ “Yup.” 

“Sure you’re not forgetting anything?” _Is_ _this girl messing with her?_

“I’m sure.”

Heejin smiles and just like that Hyunjin’s irritation dissipates. “Then let’s get going!” When Heejin smiles full of teeth and squinty eyes it begins to make sense why Yerim would trust her. Heejin’s face reveals everything (that or she’s an exceptionally talented actress, in which case fool her once, shame on Hyunjin) and it cannot be more obvious with how Heejin waits for Hyunjin to put on her seatbelt with a grin, and smiles fully when she hears it click that she’s undoubtedly a good person. It radiates off her in behemoth waves a tsunami would be jealous of; goodness, and heart, and all those mushy things. 

Silently, Hyunjin plugs her phone into the charger that Heejin has set up in the car, eyeing her every other second to make sure she isn't irritating her host. Either Heejin doesn't notice or doesn't care (it's entirely possible that she does both notice and care, but is a nice enough person to not mind the action or _worse_ , actually be happy for Hyunjin) because she doesn't once break from her admittedly impressive close-mouthed rendition of "Good Time."

**Yerim**

I hope you’re being nice

**Hyunjin**

Shut.

  
  


The ride to Heejin’s apartment is relatively quiet. Hyunjin doesn’t say anything, and Heejin sticks to humming under her breath to Carly Rae Jepsen, so it isn’t unbearably stifling. 

Her group chat with Yerim and Hyejoo remains dead, but Hyunjin doesn’t begrudge her sisters for not being emotional and constantly checking up on her. The three of them aren’t the hug and cry type (mostly), but she knows they fret in their own way. She just wishes for something to do with her hands so she looks busy and doesn’t have to overthink in silence. Her brain is occupied enough with the girl beside her, she doesn’t exactly want to spiral.

Hyunjin’s not entirely sure what to make of Heejin. The girl is nice enough to take her as a last-minute roommate, and generous enough to give her the first month free. She’s also kind of cute when she smiles, but that’s not entirely relevant. The fact of the matter is that Hyunjin knows nothing of substance to make any coherent judgment about the girl and it unnerves her to know they’ll be sharing a home.

Today was a lot. The flames had died a while ago, but she can still feel the heat against her face, and her hands won’t stop sweating and sitting in a moving metal deathtrap with a practical stranger really isn't helping calm her nerves.

Her brain is a flurry of question after question, but strangely enough, her heartbeat stays regular, as if she’s reached a point of stress so intense her body stopped acknowledging it altogether. 

There was a lot that could have gone wrong today. She could have fallen asleep at a normal time and consequently, not smelled the smoke and died. She could have been a slow mover, not exited on time, and died. She could have accidentally started a fire of her own. And died.

But she didn’t! So it’s all fine, except it’s not -- but it is, because if it’s not fine then how is Hyunjin’s heart so steady? It pulses in its cage at sixty-five beats per minute, oblivious to the high pitched screaming in Hyunjin’s mind that started around the same time the fire did, but unlike the raging embers, is yet to be put out.

Her phone buzzes and she fist pumps internally. A distraction!

  
  
  
  


**Hyejoo**

Did u get checked by the doctor ppl

**Hyunjin**

Ya

**Yerim**

You all good?

**Hyunjin**

Ya

**Yerim**

???????

**Hyejoo**

Omfg shes overthinking

Dont do that hyun ur a jock for a reason

Leave the thinking to yerim

**Hyunjin**

Na 

**Yerim**

Be nice she almost died today

Love you hyunjin <333333

Glad youre safe

**Hyejoo**

Same

**Hyunjin**

<3

**Yerim**

How’s Heejin?

**Hyunjin**

Playing cut to the feeling again

**Yerim**

Omg 

TALK TO HER

**Hyunjin**

y????

**Yerim**

Thats her awkward silence carly rae playlist

**Hyejoo**

Literally what even

?

??

**Hyunjin**

ill think abt it

Her street passes in a blur, and so does the next and the one after that. Six minutes later and the smoke isn’t even visible through the peripherals of the rearview mirror, and the streets keep passing, taking the time along with it.

“Hey… Thanks for today.”

Heejin smiles (she seems to do so easily, freely), “Don’t worry about it!” Heejin winces, probably from hearing her own words out loud, and quick as it came, her smile disappears, crumpling into a frown. “I mean, you should probably worry, fires are super dangerous -- not that I’m trying to scare you or anything -- I’d just totally give you a hand again. If you needed it.”

It’s fascinating, watching Heejin speak. Her grey brows move up and down and sideways, and she seems to have a hundred expressions. Hyunjin can see them clearly, even from the side, and they’re all fun to look at. 

She raises her brows, fighting back the beginnings of a grin, not sure how seriously to take Heejin’s statements. “You’ve only just met me.”

“We’ve met once before, actually.” 

That’s impossible, Hyunjin thinks. Because she’s sure she’d remember someone like Heejin, or at the very least, a _face_ like Heejin’s. “Have we?”

“Yeah, at Yerim and Yeojin’s housewarming. Well, apartment-warming, like… Ten? Eleven? A few months ago. Almost a year ago, maybe.”

“Ten months ago,” Hyunjin affirms, but she can’t remember Heejin at all. She remembers being bullied by Hyejoo for wearing cat ears and putting no more effort into dressing up, and she also remembers the taste of flaming sambuca, but not Heejin. “Were you in a costume or...?”

“I was the big carrot.”

Ah. Vaguely; hardly, Hyunjin remembers a walking carrot, face hardly seen but enthusiastically painted orange to match the rest of their suit. It danced over-excitedly to each new song, but never managed to get the words right. It’s less the carrot that Hyunjin remembers and more Chaewon sniggering behind her hand every time the heavy top left it unbalanced and falling head-first onto the carpet. “You must’ve been pretty smashed that day,” Hyunjin comments.

Heejin’s grip on the wheel slackens momentarily. “I don’t drink.”

“Oh.” Wow so whatever higher power exists really does hate her. Confirmed! Not surprising at the very least, but still disappointing to know. Of _course_ , she didn’t drink, Hyunjin should’ve guessed. Not just because of the whole _‘good’_ thing Heejin emanated but because she should know by now that she won’t be having an easy time in any aspect of her life. “Yeah, I meant smashed like… Super happy.” No she didn’t.

“I feel like you just made that up.” True.

“Well, I didn’t, so try feeling something else.”

“I’m feeling pretty amused, I guess.”

“Sure, amused sounds good. Amused is good. Amused at me?”

Heejin hums under her breath, and Hyunjin notes that she’s not humming along to anything this time. For how long had Carly Rae Jepsen been turned off? “In general, but mostly at you, yeah.”

“Oh.”

There’s a heat that’s growing on her cheeks, and Hyunjin has an inkling that it has nothing to do with the fire. “That’s good right?”

Heejin grins, “probably.”

The trees by the side of the road grow thinner (more spindly, less leafy), and the vaguest hint of the sun peeks behind naked branches as deep blue turns warmer and the stars disappear one-by-one. 

The digital clock on the car reads 4:48 by the time the wheels of the car stop rolling and Heejin turns the ignition off. 

Heejin’s place (well, her place now as well, Hyunjin supposes) is a little under forty minutes away from her last one, but it’s closer to her college, and _much_ , much nicer. Not to say that it’s exceptionally extravagant, just that the white walls aren't yellow from age, and the elevator plays actual music instead of an ever-present, mildly threatening _hummmmmm_. Also the stairs have handles, which may seem like a mindless staple to some, but Hyunjin remembers the terror of tipping backward after missing a step and having nothing to hold onto.

Heejin laughs a little under her breath, probably at Hyunjin’s amazed expression, but Hyunjin finds that she doesn’t really mind. She’s the butt of the joke for all the higher powers already, at least this way, she can appreciate how Heejin’s low tone makes her laugh out more air than voice.

The inside of the apartment is much nicer than Hyunjin’s old place could even dream of being. For starters, the stove in the little kitchen that they pass on their way to the living room has four burners instead of two, and enough counter space to hold both a microwave _and_ a coffee machine. There’s no balcony, but there seems to be sufficient storage space, and for a moment Hyunjin wonders if she's being pranked. 

Probably not, seeing as her standards are pretty low, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Craning her neck to glare at the beige walls, she’s satisfied enough to find no cameras (unless they’re super well hidden) and a fairly entertained looking Heejin.

“What’d my walls ever do to you?”

“Just checking I'm not on Punked or anything,” Hyunjin shrugs, dropping her things in a sad pile on the coffee table across the couch. 

“Is it that bad?”

Hyunjin’s eyes lock with her new roommate’s. Heejin is still joking around, the smile on her face resting easy as it had been the whole ride, but beneath the twinlinkling of her eyes is a faint insecurity. “No,” Hyunjin admits. “Better than I expected.” 

Hyunjin looks away as soon as the words slip out of her mouth, head spinning at the sudden shift in atmosphere. She clears her throat, glancing at Heejin who’s humming ‘Call Me Maybe” rather aggressively under her breath. Uh oh, the awkward playlist is back.

“So uh,” Hyunjin attempts, the same time Heejin starts her own sentence.

“Well we--”

They pause simultaneously, staring at the other, waiting for someone to make the first move. 

“Anyway--”

“Basically--”

Heejin turns away with a dry laugh, wiping her hands on her jeans. “Um, what were you gonna say?”

“No, uh, it was nothing, you go,” Hyunjin insists.

There’s another heavy lull, filled only by the faint scratching of skin as Hyunjin reaches for the back of her neck to give her hands something to do.

“Oh,” Heejin beckons Hyunjin to follow her, hands around the doorknob of the only room with a door rather than a high archway. “Um, so this is the bedroom…” Heejin walks inside, pressing herself against the wall beside the bed in the middle, staying quiet, probably to check Hyunjin’s reaction.

It’s undeniably cute, decorated with white-coated, wooden furniture, accentuated with pops of pink, from the picture frame on the right of the room, to the workbooks on the desk beside the door. Heejin’s jumper is slewn over the chair of her computer table, and Hyunjin can see Heejin’s feet sweep some clothes under her bed, though she pretends not to notice.

There are bigger problems than a few stray articles. For example, the simple fact that Heejin only has one bed, and she only just appears to be coming to terms with that too.

  
  
  


**Hyunjin**

She only has one bed

**Hyejoo**

And?

**Hyunjin**

SHE ONLY HAS ONE BED

**Hyejoo**

Damn ma CHILL

Sleep on the couch is it hard

**Hyunjin**

://

**Yerim**

:))

  
  


“Sorry about this,” Heejin says as she hands Hyunjin a blanket to go with the pillow she’s lending the girl for her stay. 

Hyunjin wipes the couch clean of imaginary dust. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not like you knew I was coming.”

“Still,” Heejin argues, “I wish I had something better to offer than my brother’s old couch.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers. You have a brother?”

Heejin lets out another beam, looking infinitely lighter and less stiff than she had been just a moment ago. “Yup! He’s three years older and like, kind of cool.” Her eyes drift down to the navy couch, “not the best at taking care of furniture though.”

Hyunjin gives the couch a solid pat, and finds herself surprised by how her hand sinks into the cushions. “Feels pretty good to me?” She tests it out with a tentative seat, settling in and closing her eyes in appreciation when she realises that it feels like resting on a cloud. 

“It’s been put back together ‘bout four times already, ‘pretty good’ really isn’t how I’d describe it.”

Hyunjin peeks at Heejin through a half-raised lid. “Are you just trying to scare me off or something? If you don’t want me to be your roommate--”

“ _No_! No, no, I’d _love_ to have you as my roommate-- not _love_ , I mean I don’t know you, but I wouldn’t mind! Really!” With her eyes closed, Hyunjin can hear how, like her face, Heejin's voice is ridiculously expressive. She's only known her a couple of hours, but Hyunjin feels like she can pinpoint the exact moments Heejin's brows would furrow and raise, despite seeing nothing but the back of her lids.

Hyunjin laughs for the first time since the last absolute disaster of a night, and it’s relieving enough that even her soul feels replenished. She feels lighter, like her bones shed half their weight or something equally ridiculous. “Calm down,” she smiles, tugging at Heejin’s arm. “Sit.”

Heejin’s skin is softer than the couch cushion. She feels like a newborn baby, all milky and smooth, and she eases into the spot beside Hyunjin far too comfortably for Hyunjin not to realise abruptly her sudden instigation of contact. She rescinds her hand far too quickly to be subtle.

Hyunjin has no time to mourn the loss of warmth, because Heejin’s hand finds its way to her knee, naturally, calmly, like it’s some normal thing and not an attack on Hyunjin’s heart. Like, they're friends, rather than strangers. Well, could she really say they were still strangers? Probably not, Hyunjin thinks.

“Okay, I’m calm,” Heejin jokes, patting Hyunjin’s knee. Well good for her, because Hyunjin really can't be further far from calm at the moment. That hand is doing dangerous things for her heart; unidentifiable things.

“Nice.”

“I’d like to think so.”

“You know what else is nice?”

Heejin shuffles a little closer, eyes wide and curious. “Are you gonna tell me?”

Hyunjin doesn’t get to say anything because in the next five seconds the following happens:

  * A couch leg gives out
  * Both of them scream out of shock at the sudden loss of balance
  * Hyunjin flinches so hard she headbutt’s Heejin by accident



Screw being a rom-com; if Hyunjin’s life was a movie, it'd be a goddamn _tragedy_.

**Hyunjin**

We broke the couch

**Yerim**

Um???

Do we want to know this

**Hyejoo**

Saucy

**Hyunjin**

We sat on it and it was so old n tired

It broke from the weight of 2 ppl

**Hyejoo**

not saucy at all

**Hyunjin**

That couch was my bed :((

**Yerim**

Where’re u gonna sleep now then?

**Hyunjin**

W heejin ig

**Hyejoo**

SAUCY

**Hyunjin**

No hyejoo

**Yerim**

Why do you sound sad about this

Why are you sad

**Hyunjin**

The cosmos is laughing at me

again

**Hyejoo**

Not as hard as i am

**Hyunjin**

Im going to eat ur kneecaps

**Yerim**

The cosmos cant laugh hyun

Its not sentient

**Hyunjin**

If it cant laugh then why is it just

Laughing at me

**Yerim**

Maybe its laughin WITH you

**Hyunjin**

Im not laffin tho

**Hyejoo**

Better start soon

“Seriously, I’m so sorry. If you need to scream at me just… Just go for it. I’d really you rather get it out of your system now than hold a grudge on me and secretly hate me forever.

“It’s fine!” Even while holding a bag of peas against a new bruise on her forehead, Heejin is still smiling. “You didn’t mean it, besides it was my couch, well my brother’s couch that made us knock heads in the first place. I’m just surprised you don’t have a bruise either.”

“I have a bruised ego.”

“I don’t think we have enough frozen peas for that.”

Hyunjin smirks in agreement, lifting up a corner of the blanket on Heejin’s bed so that she can shuffle in beside the girl. 

It’s less embarrassing than she expected, but still relatively awkward. She’s on her side, a light breeze away from tipping off the bed completely, barely moving to breathe, with eyes wide open. She’s aware of every shift on the bed and it’s absolutely eating her inside. 

There's nothing much to stare aimlessly at on her side of the bad, just some old band posters, and a portion of peeling plaster on the upper right side of the room.

“Hyunjin?”

“Uh-huh?”

“There’s no way you’re actually comfortable like that.”

“No, I’m good. I’m totally uh, great.”

“Come closer.”

“Don’t even worry about it!”

“Hyunjin I’m serious you look like you’re about to fall off.”

Hyunjin concedes, moving backward a touch. She squawks when a firm hand on her shoulder yanks her back so that all of her limbs are on the mattress instead of just some, and she whips her head to find a sniggering Heejin. “I’m not gonna bite Hyun, really, just try to relax.” _Hyun_. Well how is she meant to relax now?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m like _way_ relaxed.”

“Okay then, hi Way Relaxed, I’m Heejin.”

“Ha ha,” Hyunjin deadpans in response. Surprisingly enough, it only takes one bad joke for Hyunjin’s nerves to fizzle out, and she reasons it’s probably to do with the absolute emotional rollercoaster of a day she’s just experienced, but now that she’s in a comfortable bed, (sort of (arguably)) relaxed, exhaustion hits her like falling debris. 

**Hyejoo**

do you know yet

**Hyunjin**

Kno what

**Hyejoo**

Youll know 

**Hyunjin**

???????

  
  


With no clue about what Hyejoo’s on about, and little interest in finding out, she lets her heavy lids shut at last and succumbs to the warmth of the night. 


	2. Is there anything on this universe more romantic than a Naruto marathon? No!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines Day!
> 
> This is mostly unedited and I feel kinda weird but it's done! Might add a bonus third chapter if it's a thing people want, but I feel like it concludes nicely.
> 
> Also thank you to @Heejination and everyone else who commented for giving me the motivation to finish this <3

Waking up, as usual, is half as fun as falling asleep. Hyunjin, on any other day would probably argue that it wasn’t fun at all. Hyunjin any other day probably wouldn’t have been woken up with a gentle shake from an angel. 

Peeling her eyes open, the first thing Hyunjin sees are Heejin’s pearly whites, bright enough to rival the sun, and Hyunjin considers suggesting that her new roommate audition for a toothpaste commercial. 

Heejin sits at the foot of their ( _their_ , _their_ **_their!)_** bed, wavy brown hair still a little damp from her morning shower, pushed back behind her ears. Her plaid top, blue jeans combo is simple, but somehow makes her infinitely more adorable. 

“Morning!” Heejin is unnaturally chipper in the early hours of the day, though Hyunjin is willing to admit that _she_ might be the one unnaturally cheerless. Heejin giggles a little, likely at Hyunjin’s bedhead, and Hyunjin scraps her last thought. 

“Morning,” Hyunjin replies through groggy lids and a heavy jaw. It sounds closer to “eugh” but Heejin seems to understand well enough. “Time?” 

“Almost nine.” Heejin winces sympathetically when Hyunjin rolls over with a groan. “I didn’t want to wake up either, but I have a lecture at ten and you need to learn how to navigate the apartment.”

“Skip it.”

“You’re a bad influence.”

Heejin pats Hyunjin’s calves affectionately, and Hyunjin takes it as a sign to rise from the comforts of the bed, following after Heejin with lackadaisical shuffles. 

“Okay so I have Netflix and cable, and the naruto box sets if you get bored, but you have a phone so you’ll probably find something to do. Just know that the living room light is broken -- I was meant to replace the bulb but I wasn’t tall enough. The right, back burner on the stove is sketchy so try not to use it and hot water only lasts like fifteen minutes. Got it?”

“Naruto?”

“It’s a classic!” Heejin’s reply is defensive, but Hyunjin can see amusement through her crossed arms. “Timeless!”

Hyunjin moves to check Heejin with her waist, smiling as she replies. “Yeah, okay. I can replace the light if you have a spare bulb?”

“There’s probably one under the kitchen sink.”

Hyunjin raises a brow incredulously. “The kitchen sink?”  
  


“I was running out of places to put things,” Heejin shrugs. 

“Naruto, bulb, sketchy burner. Anything else?”

Heejin hesitates but ultimately decides to fuck it or whatever because she wraps her arms around Hyunjin decisively, securing the taller girl in a comfortable hold. 

Heejin smells like caramel, Hyunjin notices, though she’s not sure if she means to. Her flannel is soft to touch, and Hyunjin finds herself sinking into the hug, resting her chin on Heejin’s shoulder. Brown hair tickles her nostrils, but it’s not an irritating enough sensation to ruin the moment.

Heejin steps back first, eyes fond as she gives Hyunjin another smile, a little gentler than usual, but just as kind. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Only if you do as well.”

“Course I will.” Heejin makes her way to the door, picking white sneakers from the pile of shoes near the door, reminding Hyunjin suddenly that she’s down to her own pair, and suddenly all the hammering her heart is doing becomes more aggressive as affection shifts into anxiety. 

Hyunjin holds it in until Heejin is out the door, and then she panics. 

Yesterday was such a rush, it was easy for her to compartmentalise. She had no other choice but to suck it up. But now, with nothing to do, she’s forced to remember everything she lost the night before. 

She feels silly, if a little guilty for being so bummed out over material possessions. Hyunjin knows she’s supposed to feel relieved; grateful even, to be alive, but the situation sucks. She’s been living in her apartment for over a year and now she’s lost everything she worked so hard to buy, and make, and remember. 

Heejin’s a blessing to be willing to share her space and her belongings, but in the end, it’s Heejin’s, not Hyunjin’s and that makes a world of difference. 

Hyunjin eyes the coffee table and makes a mental inventory of the things she managed to save. 

Her laptop for one, her backpack, a few ‘Robin’ comics, and odd articles of clothing. A meager amount in comparison to what she used to have. She feels like shit, and she feels shittier for feeling like shit in the first place. 

**Hyunjin**

So

**Yerim**

You okay, Hyun?

**Hyunjin**

:// 

**Yerim**

Want to go out for coffee?

Or should I come over?

**Hyunjin**

I don’t know

**Yerim**

What’s going on?

**Hyunjin**

It’s just my shit

I don’t have any

**Yerim**

I’ll come over

See you in 30ish minutes

Don’t do anything dumb until I get there

  
  


It takes Yerim forty minutes to get to Heejin’s apartment, but she has a tupperware of pity pastries on one hand, Hyejoo on the other, and a backpack of "emergency supplies" for Hyunjin, so Hyunjin is willing to forgive her. 

The three of them fall into a group hug wordlessly, and nobody mentions it when Hyunjin starts sniffling. 

Hyunjin’s not entirely sure how much time they spend just wrapped in each other by the front door, but she knows its enough for the anchor dragging down at the pit of her stomach to lessen in weight, if only a little.

They settle down in front of the broken couch, leaning against it, cross-legged and so close that they’re practically on top of each other. Yerim is holding on tightly to Hyunjin’s left side, while Hyejoo is occupying her right shoulder with her head. 

Her sisters are quiet, but the lull that settles between them provides more comfort than a couple of words. 

It’s still shit, and Hyunjin honestly feels like an ant in a microwave, but at least she has her sisters and a danish. 

“My back hurts.” Hyejoo sits up, almost knocking Hyunjin’s jaw with the top of her head, though neither so much as blink. 

“Honestly same, let’s move.” 

Yerim blinks, “It’s not that bad?” Hyunjin and Hyejoo ignore her in favour of stretching, and Hyunjin sniggers as her sisters banter while they follow her to the kitchen.

“Please Yerim, you’'ll probably think hell isn’t that bad either.”

“What’s wrong with a little optimism?” 

“It’s not optimism when you’re just deluding yourself.”

“You’re talking like a real pessimist, Hye.”

“Well, that doesn't sound very positive!”

Hyunjin is pleased to see that Heejin’s fridge is pretty well stocked, and when Yerim hands her a bag of castor sugar without pausing in her argument, Hyunjin notes that the pantry is too. After that, her body moves on its own. 

Unsalted butter is cut and measured to a cup, left to settle on transparent pyrex (also handed to her by Yerim), castor sugar following shortly after. Stray specks splatter against the black granite counter in a cheap imitation of the night sky, and Hyunjin cleans the mess with a sweep of a finger that finds its way to her mouth. Sweet. 

There’s something comforting in the familiarity brought by baking and her sister’s arguing in the background, and it’s just what Hyunjin needs in this foreign place after the debacle that was last night. 

Hyunjin scrounges white well-loved cupboards for a beater, and sighs in relief when she finds a hand-held beside cake tins, and a clearly unused, baby pink mixer. 

It’s easy to fall into the loose grip of nostalgia that seeps to her bones like a warm bath, present in the way that Yerim hands her vanilla extract without being asked and how Hyejoo glares at her when the noise of the beater interrupts her argument.

“I was about to win!” 

Hyunjin pretends not to hear her over the whirring of the beater and it’s electric whisks against glass and butter. “What?”

“I was about to win!”

“I can’t hear anything!”

Yerim hides a laugh behind her hands, but she needn’t have bothered when Hyejoo’s attention is stuck on Hyunjin.

“I said I was about to -- the mixture is adequately fluffy, so Hyunjin shuts off the beater -- win the argument!” The absence of the mechanical buzz has Hyejoo flinch at her own volume, her voice suddenly the only sound in the room. 

Hyejoo pouts, kicking Hyunjin in the shin. “Rude.”

“What?”

“You did that on purpose!”

Yerim snickers. “Gosh Hye, you’re really such a pessimist.”

“But at least I’m not delusional!” 

There they go again.

Hyunjin’s sisters give up on arguing when they’re obstructed each time Hyunjin has to beat something into her mix, and they settle for watching her pipe circles onto a baking-paper covered tray. 

Hyejoo swipes some mixture, and Yerim mutters something about salmonella, but it’s a lot quieter in comparison to earlier. 

Human emotion is a funny thing Hyunjin thinks. Just an hour ago, she felt like a candle burning from both ends, at the end of her wick, running out of wax and running out of time. The fire that kept her alight grew too big and too hot, (in a literal sense too), and threatened to swallow her alive. 

But here are her sisters, putting her back together with all the wax Heejin collected, and life felt significantly less shitty. 

Hyunjin won’t say it’s amazing any time soon, certainly not a rom-com of any sort, but her candle, hodgepodge and wonky as it is, still stands, and for now, that’s enough.

Hyunjin wipes her flour-covered hands on Hyejoo who whinges but is nice enough not to hit her in retaliation. “Help me clean up.”

“No way,” Hyejoo deadpans.

Yerim looks through the glass of the oven to have a peek at Hyunjin’s creation. “Butter cookies?”

Hyunjin clips the castor sugar close with a nod. “Butter cookies.”

“Heejin’s more of a tart person.”

Hyunjin splutters, hands losing hold of the bag. It falls back on the counter with a solid sounding _thump_ but is quickly swiped up by Hyejoo who rolls her eyes but appears amused nonetheless. “Okay?”

“Just thought you might want to know. For the future.”

“Why would I? Um, why would I want to know exactly?”

“Well you’re roommates right? You should do something nice for her.”

Yerim’s smile is too sweet not to be evil, but Hyunjin doesn’t really get (and doesn’t really want to get) what Yerim is saying so she shifts her attention to sweeping the counters clean. “Right, yeah.”

Hyejoo tuts under her breath, patting Hyunjin on the shoulder. “You’ll understand when you’re old enough.”

“We’re the same age!”

“But Mentally…” 

Her sisters eat their fill of butter cookies, teasing Hyunjin relentlessly and leaving at three in the afternoon when they’re sure she’s a second away from snapping, and once again Hyunjin is alone and confused in the apartment. 

Yerim and Hyejoo were definitely teasing her about Heejin but _why. W_ ell there are a lot of potential why’s, but none that Hyunjin like.

Well…

_No._

  
  


Heejin gets home ( **_home_ ** ) at quarter to four, looking a little worse for wear. When she spies Hyunjin in front of the couch, watching ‘ _Nailed It!,’_ she frowns. “That’s not Naruto.”

“Did you really think I was gonna watch anime, weeb?”

“Well, I was hoping.”

Heejin slumps down beside her, dropping her bags carelessly. She leans in, stealing the cookie from Hyunjin’s hand as casual as she stole Hyunjin’s [REDACTED] (her brain fizzes and it’s all white noise and static for a hot second, and Hyunjin idly wonders if she’s dying, but then her vision returns so she hopes it’s nothing to see the doctor about instead). “So what are they trying to make?” 

Hyunjin steals her cookie back, making do with the fact that Heejin left less than half after her first bite. “A cake shaped like a rocket. Tina’s icing the cake while it’s still hot though so it’s a hot mess express on her table, and Mike straight up forgot to colour his fondant.” 

“Come on Mike, pull yourself together!” Heejin heckles.

Hyunjin snorts. “Don’t count on it. And eat your own cookies.”

“Where’d you buy these from anyway?”

“I made them.”

“No shit? They taste so good! I can’t believe I lucked out with my roommate.”

Hyunjin’s heart chooses that moment to play hopscotch and leap straight out of her throat. She coughs into her hands and tries not to hack even worse when Heejin rubs soothing circles on her back. 

  
“Uh, thanks? Yerim and Hyejoo came over to help me make them.” Help is a pretty liberal term, but Hyunjin thinks she’s a generous person. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, it’s your apartment too, okay? As long as you give me a heads-up if you invite someone next time.” Heejin’s hands have somehow found themselves in Hyunjin’s own and the squeeze she gets from Hyunjin is tender as it is disconcerting for Hyunjin’s breathing. “It was probably good for you that they came” Heejin’s eyes are honestly dizzying, like a swirling pool of caramel, honey, and adoration. _Adoration? "_ Anything you need, I'm here okay? Clothes, moral support, a hug, I'm your girl."

“Yeah.” Hyunjin’s response is prompt, albeit, a little breathless, effectively shattering whatever mood was just built between the two of them.

Their hands separate, tucking back to their respective pockets, and Hyunjin makes a show of concentrating really hard on the screen. 

Heejin winces when Tina’s second layer concaves, taking another cookie, this time from Hyunjin’s plate and not her hands. “Who do you think is gonna win? I think it’s Mike.”

Hyunjin thinks Mike will win too, but she’s stubborn on principle. “You wanna bet on it?”

“Fine, but my prize is you have to watch Naruto with me.”

“Deal.”

Heejin bumps their shoulders together. “You didn’t say what you wanted?”

“I’ll figure it out later.” Hyunjin knows Tina’s not going to win, especially when her cake begins to fall apart, looking more like a rainbow pudding than a rocket, so she googles Naruto as inconspicuous as she can. Ninjas? She can do that. Probably.

Predictably, Mike wins, and Hyunjin considers being a sore loser about it, but then Heejin jumps to her feet, cheering in a manner that can only be described as downright charming. 

“Yeah, yeah, put your weeb show on, Heej,” Hyunjin huffs, though there’s no real bite to her words. Heejin complies excitedly, raving about how cool _Kakashi_ is. 

Naruto is pretty good, Hyunjin will admit. Not a masterpiece like Heejin keeps insisting, but Hyunjin’s willing to pretend if it makes Heejin happy. They don’t bother pausing the show for dinner, leaving it on as they make stir fry together, working as a cohesive unit, as if they are two halves of a whole. They end up eating in front of the television.

The experience would have probably been more comfortable with a stable couch to actually sit on, but Hyunjin finds that she doesn’t mind, especially when she and Heejin begin to lean more on each other than on the seat behind them.

Heejin falls asleep somewhere between episodes seven and eight, and Hyunjin is carefully quiet while she cleans. There’s a buzz in her pocket, and she cocks a brown at her sisters’ messages.

**Hyejoo**

So do you know yet?

**Hyunjin**

Genuinely, what the fuck are you even talking about?

**Yerim**

Soon i think

After that, the two of them fall into a steady rhythm. They wake up early for University on alternating days, and when they get home they do homework while Naruto plays in the background. They agree to take turns cooking, but cook together more often than not, and in the month Hyunjin spends there, neither bring up the matter of buying an inflatable bed.

Heejin as it turns out, is a pretty good ear to ramble to and shoulder to cry on. Hyunjin still gets kind of sad sometimes when she remembers something she used to have, but seeing what she has now, it helps her feel better. Because now, she can wear one of Heejin's cute socks and come out to the living room to see Heejin in her sweatpants. She and Heejin share a Netflix, and groceries are cheaper because she halves the price with someone else.

It’s cute, it’s simple it’s domestic, and Hyunjin is in trouble. Every time Heejin does anything, Hyunjin’s brain stutters and her heart turns to mush, and she’s starting to understand all the teasing. 

But it’s not like Yerim and Hyejoo were or _are_ actually onto something because Hyunjin doesn’t even like Heejin. She just likes her current living arrangement with Heejin, and the way Heejin smiles (at her, specifically), and how cute Heejin looks in the morning when she’s making toast but isn’t quite awake, and accidentally sets the fire alarm off because she forgot she already put toast in the toaster and ended up triple-toasting bread and burning it. Okay, so the last one…

So.

Okay.

Hm.

Maybe Hyunjin might have the tiniest most minuscule sense of affection for Heejin. Yerim and Hyejoo are still wrong though. Totally. 

Hyunjin turns the television on, hardly paying attention to Sunday Morning news, busying herself instead with a cup of coffee and some hard thinking.

**Hyunjin**

hello

**Hyejoo**

Oh? Could this be it?

**Hyunjin**

So i think

**Hyejoo**

Can u tho? Is that rly smth u can do?

**Hyunjin**

I MIGHT

**Hyejoo**

No u definitely do but go on

**Hyunjin**

Be having some… feelings

**Yerim**

About Heejin

**Hyejoo**

About Heejin

**Hyunjin**

About Heejin

HOW

**Hyejoo**

Oh boo hoo heejin is too warm at night

Boo hoo she smiles to pretty

Aww boo hoo heejin burned toast and cant cook

And thats cute??????

**Hyunjin**

. 

Okay

I see

**Hyejoo**

Ask for it

U know u want it

**Hyunjin**

…

**Hyejoo**

aaasssskkkk

!!!

**Hyunjin**

...help

**Yerim**

SIKE!  
I’ve BEEN helping!!!!

**Yerim**

Ye so my apartments been free to 

Move back into since four days after

U and heejin shared a bed

**Hyejoo**

Omg ?

**Yerim**

But i didnt offer u to stay bc i had a

Feeling ya know

Also heejin told me she thought u 

Were “cute” or whateva

**Hyejoo**

YERIM BIG BRAIN??

YERIM MASTER PLANNER??

**Hyunjin**

U srs 

**Yerim**

Yeah i fr planned this out i had a map

**Hyunjin**

No like were u srs that heejin

Said she thinks im cute

Or whateva

**Yerim**

Ask her yourself maybe????

**Hyejoo**

Wow the biggest brain of all

**Hyunjin**

Dshgjnhvdhjhvh

**Hyejoo**

Did u just get murdered or smth

**Yerim**

????????? hyunjin???

**Hyejoo**

F

Hyunjin picks her phone up from the timber floors with trembling hands. She’s not sure what’s shaking harder; her fingers or her heart. 

This is a revelation.

In hindsight, it was all a little obvious, but hindsight had 20/20 vision and Hyunjin’s been needing to upgrade her prescription glasses so she doesn’t blame herself.

It’s just silly how obvious it is that she likes Heejin and she didn’t even let herself notice because the land of blissful ignorance was simply too pretty and too perfect. And Heejin totally likes her! Unless she’s wrong, and Yerim is wrong, and Hyunjin ends up asking her roommate out only to be rejected in a humiliating way, having to live suffocating in an awkward atmosphere until she makes enough money to move out securely.

Still… If she’s thinking about it this hard, isn’t that a sign? Hyunjin doesn’t remember panicking this hard about the fire, or anything else in her life, but this… Is a lot. And what she’s now sure she feels… Is a lot. 

**Hyunjin**

How sure are you?

**Hyejoo**

Hello is faker the best lol player in sk?

**Hyunjin**

I don’t know is he

**Hyejoo**

YES! Im /very/ sure

**Yerim**

It’s like 100%

Except im gonna say 99%

You know

In case I’m wrong

**Hyunjin**

Hhh????  
Whatever i have to go practice

**Hyejoo**

Practice?

  
  


Like it’s a hot potato, Hyunjin throws her phone to the broken couch, gritting her teeth when it bounces off, resolutely landing on the floor face-down.

She can check on it, or she can hunker down and get some practice time in, and she knows which is more urgent so she chugs her coffee, blows a raspberry at the bald guy on TV talking about a local festival and searches deep inside herself.

She finds a lot of bread products; pastries mostly, though some might argue that bread and pastries are different. Between the brioche and the sourdough, she finds what she’s looking for. That sugary sweet, ridiculously bright spot of affection for a certain someone.

So Hyunjin rehearses.

“Hey… Heejin…” Hey Heejin? _Hey Heejin?_ What was that? Some sort of stunted greeting? Hyunjin shakes her head at herself. 

“Heejin.” Why so solemn though?

“Heej… So I’ve um, ah whatever, it’s practice anyway. Heejin we should totally kiss -- no!”

“Heejin, Yerim told me you thought I was cute and I think you’re super cute too…”

“Hey Heejin if you like me honk.” Hyunjin lets herself laugh at that one. She has to admit, she’s pretty funny most of the time. 

Hyunjin clears her throat, trying to be serious. If she’s going to confess shouldn’t it be from the heart? “Heejin you’re one of the kindest people I know, and I love being around you. Just being around you is enough, but… If you share the same feelings that I do, maybe you want to be more than just ‘around?’” No, what did that even mean? _Around?_

This is stupid. This feels stupid. Hyunjin sighs, sipping at her lukewarm coffee, burrowing her head in her hands. “Heejin… When we first met I thought something was probably wrong with you since you were smiling all the time, but now that I _know_ you I _know_ something is definitely wrong with you-- no I’m joking-- I know that you’re... “

Well what does she know? How to make a good tart for one. Yerim said Heejin likes tarts. Hyunjin turns quickly, making her way to the fridge. 

Maybe she’ll just make Heejin a cute confession tart. That might be fun? 

Hyunjin’s blood freezes are and feet are stuck where they are. She’s half certain she’s alive with how loud the screaming in her head is, but then again this situation is so laughable she might just be in some sort of psychological torture chamber in hell. 

Heejin stands, beautiful as ever, against the kitchen counter, just a few feet away from her. She’s leaning against the granite naturally, fully relaxed. “Hey,” she grins.  
  


the higher beings were most certainly laughing now.

“H-hey,” Hyunjin stutters, brain working in overdrive. All thoughts are replaced by a searing white-hot light and nothing else. Worst of all her mouth refuses to move properly.

“You alright?”

“I was thinking of making tarts.” Hyunjin feels herself move toward the pantry, almost robotically. It feels like her limbs aren’t her own and maybe they aren’t and it’s just some sort of lucid dream? Except it’s probably not, because this situation is the exact brand of absurdity that the rest of her life goes by.

Heejin smiles, Hyunjin’s steps falter. “Yeah? I love tarts.”

“I know. How long have you been standing there?”

“Mm… Since ‘we should probably kiss.’” Heejin hardly blinks as she delivers that blow to Hyunjin’s chest. She talks like she’s discussing the weather and not a monumental expression of deeply guarded emotions. Well not deeply guarded, probably not even guarded, but monumental nonetheless.   
  


“What are you even doing here!”

”It’s Sunday and I live here? The real question is what are _you_ doing?”

Hyunjin squawks. “I was practicing.”

Heejin hums, spinning so that she can open the fridge. It’s quiet for a moment, just the rustling of a few things. Heejin hands Hyunjin a stick of unsalted butter. “Okay, then why don’t you keep practicing while we make some tarts, and when we’re done, you can confess for real?”

Hyunjin nods mutely. “I’d really like that.”

  
They work fluidly together, as if they have known each other for more than a month. As if they are meant to be, the romantic in Hyunjin’s head sings. She tells it to shut up while she rolls out some dough. 

Heejin hands her a pan, squeezing Hyunjin’s wrists assuredly. “So, if you were confessing, what would you say?”

Hyunjin pokes holes into the dough in the bottom of the pan, cutting off any excess with a knife. “Well… I’d start by saying that I think you’re really pretty. Not because I only like you because you’re pretty but because you’d probably be smiling at me and I wouldn’t be able to say anything else.”

Hyunjin steals a glance at Heejin when she passes to freeze the dough base. Heejin is mixing together eggs, salt, sugar and lemon zest, the corners of her mouth are pulled up so that her cheeks push up against her eyes. She looks like the personification of joy. “Like that,” Hyunjin says.

Heejin looks a little taken back. “Like this?” 

“Yeah, you look really pretty when you’re happy.”

Heejin pours in some lemon juice, flicking some at Hyunjin who gives her a weak shove in retaliation. “Then what?”

“Well then you’d make that face and my brain would short circuit.”

“What’s new then?”

Hyunjin makes the most deadpan expression she can. “Ha-ha.” 

Heejin pokes a perfectly pink tongue out, one eye shut so she’s winking. “I’m funny!”

“You are,” Hyunjin agrees, “I’d probably say that too. You’re kind of a loser, (“hey!”) but all your jokes are sold on me. Even when you’re not trying, you’re really funny.”

Hyunjin takes the dough from the freezer, sticking it in the oven, filled with pie weights. “And then I would say you’re really kind. And that I thought that maybe you don’t like me, you’re just nice.”

  
Heejin brushes Hyunjin’s hair back behind her ears, and Hyunjin goes red. “We shouldn’t be cooking with our hair out, it’s a hygiene risk.”

“See how much I’m risking,” Heejin jokes, “how could you think I don’t like you! My life is on the line and I’m making tarts with you.”

Hyunjin’s mouth forms an ‘o.’

Both of them are quiet as Heejin pours filling into the base, now empty of weights. Then, Heejin gives her a look, a Heejin look, and Hyunjin knows she’s _so_ far gone. She’s infatuated with Heejin and there’s no helping it at this point.

Hyunjin clears her throat. “Then, I would ask if you liked me back, but I guess you just answered.”

Heejin steps closer, brushing flour on her pyjama shorts uncaringly. The yellow lights of the kitchen make her glow a certain kind of way, and Hyunjin thinks that she’s ethereal. “And then what?”

“And then I’d say...” Hyunjin gulps as Heejin takes another step forward and Hyunjin finds herself leaning closer, as if being pulled by a magnet.

“We should probably kiss,” Heejin quotes, and Hyunjin has no rebuttal so she closes the gap. 

Heejin’s lips are soft, and just as heavenly as the rest of her. Behind her lids, because yes, of course Hyunjin closes her eyes, Hyunjin sees fireworks.   
  


it feels special, like it’s a moment deserving of some orchestral background. A Disney original ballad at the very least. Hyunjin commits the moment to memory, and makes a note to make Heejin more tarts in the future. 

The kiss is chaste, but it's enough to leave Hyunjin breathless and dizzy, and she's sure she's seeing stars. Still, Heejin’s cheeks are pink, and Hyunjin can finally relish in the fact that her roommate -- her _girlfriend_? Looks just as flustered as she does.

Heejin presses a kiss against her nose, and Hyunjin pulls her closer to land one on the top of her head. 

“But did you really tell Yerim I was cute?”

Heejin slaps her chest lightly. “Yes, you egg! Back at the housewarming party… You had cat-ears… It was cute.”

“You had a crush on me!”

“Let’s go check on the tarts.”

Hyunjin knows that Heejin is changing the subject because she’s embarrassed so she agrees readily, though tells herself not to forget that tidbit. “Yeah, okay.” Hyunjin sneaks another kiss in, laughing when Heejin splutters.

“Th-The tarts!”

**Hyejoo**

So how does it feel to know?

**Hyunjin**

:DDDD

**Yerim**

Ye ur welcome

**Hyunjin**

omg

wait

**Hyejoo**

no what

**Hyunjin**

am i living a romcom

**Yerim**

just about ye

**Hyejoo**

congrats

_**Bonus?** _

“Heejin… We’re dating right, like, you’re my girlfriend?”

“Well I don’t kiss strangers.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes, Hyunjin, we’re dating, I’m your girlfriend.”

“Sweet!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus-Bonus:
> 
> "Oh my god I forgot to replace to the light."
> 
> "Yeah I was wondering why it was still weird. Didn't want to make you feel bad though, because I really thought you did it."
> 
> Ahhh that's all! Thanks for reading! A HUGE thank you to everyone who waited for this update. Sorry it took so long!
> 
> ALSO pls comment if you see any spelling/grammar or other errors I skimmed through this like once, but I will be editing later in the week.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! <3  
> Let me know if you catch anything I should fix-up, this was only briefly edited, though I am planning on coming back and reading through it properly sometime later this week.


End file.
